Experiential brand launch – Gala Games into the Galaverse brand launch Las Vegas

Venue – Location, Location, Location

VOLO leveraged their long-standing relationships in the hospitality industry to renegotiate the master plan and accommodations with expanded terms for the necessary space at The Aria Hotel and Casino, which was sold out prior to VOLO’s engagement! VOLO succeeded in securing the relocation of conflicting events and also the necessary room nights for GALA guests at various 4 and 5-star hotels within the Aria City Center Campus.

The Show Must Go On – And It Did, In Spectacular Fashion!

A “hub and spoke” design was created for the overall event configuration, with the hub as the host location for the four general sessions, product reveals, NFT offerings, stage performances, the daytime celebrity entertainment, and five after-hours A-list DJ performances. The hub featured a large stage with a massive, curved, high-resolution LED wall supported by a 360-degree screen-surround.

Four all-original dance numbers were orchestrated by VOLO’s Fosse and MTV VMA award-winning choreography team as interstitial segments within the hub general sessions—linking brief message segments and sustaining audience energy and excitement throughout.

Each of five spokes feeding out from the central hub led to one of five GALA digital game “world” creations. VOLO deployed a multi-disciplinary strategy to devise gaming “activations” that would literally bring GALA’s digital games to life as real-time, real-world, fully interactive and immersive experiences. Attendees were drawn into each game experience through a combination of theatrical 3D scenic design, live-cast performance, custom animation, high-definition motion media, and visual effects featuring 4K video, a 3D graphics gaming engine (Unreal Engine), and an audio feast of more than 2,000 original and artfully curated music tracks for both the hub and “worlds” activities.

Scenic & Dimensionals – Worlds of Difference

Bringing five digital game worlds to life required far more than traditional event staging. It demanded the kind of specialized craft and attention to detail typically found on motion picture sets, sound stages, and theme parks. VOLO’s elite team of Emmy Award-winning set designers and craftsmen fabricated worlds that were so “real” and so true to the games they represented that even GALA’s game designers were overwhelmed with their mastery.

Service components‍

• General Sessions: Design, produce and stage 4 sessions over two days with professional host(s), multiple executive presenters & guests, multiple live performances with original choreography, bespoke costuming, immersive visual projection with 3D content, custom animations and theatrical special effects
• Scenic & Dimensional: Craft five distinct theme-park-quality immersive “worlds” each to transform GALA’s digital games into a series of live, on-stage performances
• Agenda Design, Management & Visualization: Balance multiple layers of simultaneous shows and crews, each with cycling audience segments across the event landscape – each requiring discrete stage direction and sophisticated, next-generation wide screen imagery
• Webcast: Design and produce a network-quality live-streaming global webcast for day three of the event
• Broadcast Arena: Design and build a fully operational e-sports gaming environment within one of the immersive worlds to support the webcast
• Book, Produce & Manage: 15 A-Level celebrity acts for two days and two nights of live concert entertainment in multiple event locations
• Venue: The bold plan required 90,000 sq ft of event space, hotel room block, VIP catering, food & beverage for 700 attendees, and over 500 staff, talent and crew –at a major Las Vegas hotel & casino campus – on less than two months’ notice!

‍Five different worlds – and the hub – were designed and built:

• Townstar – Themed as a Texas dance hall and honky-tonk bar, featuring a full stage, seating for nearly 65 people, and a full, working bar complete with Townstar-branded beer.
• Echoes of Empire – The command deck of a spaceship where guests were immersed in an on-stage space battle and mutiny, participating with performers to gain victory.
• Mirandus – A medieval-themed tavern located at the end of a winding forest path. Complete with real forest scent and period music, Mirandus provided the perfect immersion for guests to meet their favorite legendary game designers while sipping beverages from tankards served at an authentic bar.
• Spider Tanks – A full e-Sports arena complete with 18 competitor gaming stations, play-by-play broadcast, and a full-sized, robotic chicken (a character from the GALA game).
• Dungeons & Dragons – A fully equipped Dungeons & Dragons room featuring a smoke-blowing life-sized dragon and tables cast with professional costumed Dungeon Masters, prepared to take visitors on a mini-adventure.
• The Hub – The central area from which all the worlds branched, featuring seating for 700 guests, a full stage, and 360-degree immersive screens.

VOLO also created a photo-realistic world for GALA’s announcement of The Walking Dead: Empires theatrical show. This world incorporated complex virtual lighting using the native DMX plugin to dynamically control scenic and atmospheric lighting as well as special effects. VOLO also created a custom 10-minute video narrative using Cinema 4D for screen content within the Echoes of Empire set.

To manage the complex flow of cycling guest traffic through the hub and worlds, attendee wristbands were programmed with color changes coordinated with schedule and level of event area access. A full credentialing system was also integrated as an added control feature.

Visual Design and Artwork – Seeing Is Believing

VOLO designed all the visual content for the event, as well as all technology and operations solutions. The octagonal-shaped entertainment space for The Hub featured dynamic 3D visualizations created in Unreal Engine, which played across eight projection screens and a large LED display. This next-generation visual configuration reinforced the leading-edge ethos of GALA’s brand. As a tribute to the brand’s legacy, VOLO’s animation team produced a theatrical-quality, two-minute animated show opener featuring some of GALA’s most beloved VOX characters.

A Network-Quality Broadcast

Day three of the event featured a three-hour live global webcast, supported by 18 cinematic 4K cameras to portray feature film imagery. Shot to network standards, the broadcast featured live and pre-recorded video packages and interviews, Q&A sessions, and a live e-Sports tournament from the Spider Tanks arena.

World-Class Entertainment

As an extension and highlight of the epic brand experience, VOLO booked, produced, and managed two nights of full-set performances from 15 A-list celebrity musical acts. Shows alternated between The Hub, the Aria’s Jewel Nightclub—which VOLO transformed into an intimate rock concert venue—and back at The Hub for late-night performances from four legendary DJs.

VOLO secured and booked all talent for the show and provided backline, lighting, sound, and staging.

‍Celebrity Music Artists‍

• Maroon 5
• Kings of Leon
• Arcade Fire
• Billy Idol
• Alice Cooper
• Snoop Dogg
• Stone Temple Pilots
• The Head and the Heart
• Bo Bice
• Legendary DJ's
• BT
• 3LAU
• Bassjackers
• Steve Aoki